Half a day trip to Ban Gioc Fall and Nguom Ngao Cave from Hanoi and back - possible?

Adrienne07

Joined Travelfish20th April, 2009Posts: 5

Hi all seasoned Vietnam travellers!

Need your advice on this!

Me and my companion will be traveling to Hanoi from 5th May to 8th May. Our plane will arrive in Hanoi on 5th May at around 12.30pm (local time) and our pre-arranged guided tours around Hanoi city and Ha Long Bay would only commence on 6th May. Hence, we have almost half a day to spare.

Hence, we are very interested to visit Ban Gioc Fall and the near-by Nguom Ngao Cave, after hearing about its beauty, being probably Vietnam's most beautiful fall...

Do you think it's possible to pack that trip into half-a-day and back from Hanoi? And how do I go about arranging that? Any reliable agencies to recommend?

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minhnguyen1-6051986

Hi Adrienneo7
I'm afraid of your trip going to Ban gioc fall and Nguom ngao cave. As i know, it's 400kms far from Ha long to Ban gioc fall and you must spend more one day for this initiary: Halong-ban gioc- nguom ngao- ha noi.
i will send more information if i have.
goodluck

Adrienne07

Joined Travelfish20th April, 2009Posts: 5

Hi

Thanks for your info! I know Im rather ambitious here.
So, do you have any other suggestions to my initiary?
Currently, it looks:

Day 1 - Arrive in Hanoi / Transfer to hotel
Day 2 - City visit to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Museum, House on Stilt, One Pillar Pagoda, Literature Temple, Ngoc Son Temple & Restored Sword Lake; Proceed to Ha Long Bay for one night stay
Day 3 - Visit to various grottoes, limestone caves & floating village; Proceed back to Hanoi and visit to old quarter + some shopping
Day 4 - Afternoon flight back home

I've not thought of where to go for the first and last day yet. Also not very sure if the places I've highlighted above are worth visiting too. And I can only afford 4 days... though I'll be back again in Oct/Nov for a longer period of 8 days...

chrispyrolls

only having one day spare I would just enjoy Hanoi, walk around the Old Quarter, sit and watch the world go by really... sit by the lake and chat to students eager to practise their english...

Also how are you getting to Halong Bay? Are planning to do an organsied tour and stay on a boat? If so they leave in the morning (7-9 am), so you will not have time to visit all the other places the same day ... so perhaps do all those things on day 1?

Adrienne07

Joined Travelfish20th April, 2009Posts: 5

Hi hi

Yup, I've booked an organised tour but nope, I would not be staying on a boat... Erm not quite sure if we can get over the sea-sick :)

I will be arriving in Hanoi at 12pm and with quite a fair bit of time to spare. That's why I planned initially to check out a nearby town or county within ah hour or two traveling time from Hanoi. I'm more into natural landforms, waterfalls, scenic mountain ranges, etc kind of person. Does anyone here know of such place where I can just visit on day 1?

Alternatively, we can wake up slightly earlier on our last day and do the same i.e. check out nearby waterfalls, etc, together with the sun rise... and then head straight to the airport where we will be catching our flight to Bangkok at 1.30pm.

If all else fails, then I guess my best option will be to remain in Hanoi and take in the sights and lifestyles of the local people!

minhnguyen1-6051986

Hi Adrienne07 !
You will have an afternoon on day 1, so you can visit Thay pagoda. It about 40km far from Hanoi. There are moutains, pagodas on the mountain...
On day 3, you can visit Hadong silk village. It's the traditional and old silk village of north Vietnam. It takes about 45 minutes from the centre city. you can get taxi or bus to go to all there easyly